Hello,

I have not been on the board in quite a while, but I have a 3 year-old son who has had 13 hospitalizations and and several more adrenal crises. Each time, except for one, he is admitted to the hospital during a crisis we try to get an IV started and it is pure torture. He is one of the more difficult children to stick and he has always been that way. We have gotten bloodwork drawn every three months since he was 8 days old and none of it has been easy. The last crisis was the week before Christmas. It took over1.5 hours to get an IV in him. This involed 4 nurses (two from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). The last straw, after 4 tries, was to call Anesthesia. I also told the nurses to try his foot. As anesthesia showed up , the PICU nurse was successful with the foot.

So, EMLA cream is not an option for our son. I stress so much over this. I am a pharmacist at the hospital he goes to and we have tried all sorts of things and people to make it easier. It never is.The only thing we have going is that I know all the nurses and which ones are the best at trying. There is one nurse (a friend ) who I try to co-ordinate our 3-month blood draws with. She knows him well, but she still sweats when he comes in. Some people and kids are just more difficult than others. It is quite traumatic when you cannot say "It will only be one stick and we'll be done". I cannot promise this.

Anyway, does anyone else have a child who is very hard to stick? I would love some words if there is anyone out there. THANKS!